Texas set to execute man for murder of 93-year-old woman
By Jon Herskovitz
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas is set on Thursday to execute Clifton Williams, 31, who was convicted of murdering a 93-year-old woman about 10 years ago and then setting her body on fire in a robbery to support his drug habit.
Texas plans to execute Williams by lethal injection at 6 p.m. CDT at its death chamber in Huntsville. If the execution goes ahead, it will be the 528th in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state.
In July 2005, Williams broke into the home Cecelia Schneider in Tyler. He sexually assaulted her before he beat, strangled and stabbed her, the Texas Attorney General's Office said.
Williams placed Schneider's body on her bed and lit it on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence. He stole her purse and car as he fled the scene, it said.
In April of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a motion filed by Williams' lawyers to halt the execution. They argued that he is mentally retarded and putting him to death him would be unconstitutional.
Court records show there are no appeals pending before the courts seeking to halt the execution.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler)
